Bubbly Primer

Sparkling wines are wines made from still grape juice into which carbon dioxide has been dissolved (when the bottle opens and the wine is exposed to oxygen, bubbles form as the gas comes out of its dissolved state). There are any number of sparkling wines made in just about every corner of the world—the most famous and oft misused name is champagne--and for better or worse, not all bubbly wine is champagne.

Champagne and Methode Champenoise

Only sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France made in the traditional “methode champenoise” manner may be labeled champagne—the rest may be superior (or inferior) wines and the bubbles can get into the wine using any number of techniques.

Methode champenoise (also called methode classique, cremant, methode cap classique, and methode traditionelle) converts still wine to bubbly wine, by first adding a sugar to bottled wine and sticking a snug cap on the end to seal. Inside the bottle, the yeast (naturally in the grape juice) will ferment with the additional sugar creating carbon dioxide that has no where to go, so it dissolves into the liquid. Now the wine is left to ferment for a few years. The bottles are slowly turned during fermentation, riddling, so all the dead yeast (lees) end up in the neck of the bottle. When the wine has fermented as long as the winemaker sees fit, the necks of the bottles are flash frozen and the yeasty deposits pop out. A bit more sugar is added along with a cork and wire safety cage and the wine (still with those bubbles) is ready to drink.

Cava
Spain’s sparkling wine, usually made using the methode champenoise technique.

Spumante
A generic Italian word for sparkling wine. Asti spumante refers to sweet and rich bubbly wines made from the moscato grapes of Asti.

Prosecco
Northern Italy’s favorite sparkling wine is named for the prosecco grapes of the veneto, prosecco di valdobbiadene and prosecco di conegliano, which take the leading role. Most prosecco is fermented in bottles, then riddled in large, pressurized tanks from which the yeasty sediment is filtered. This process, the transfer method, can produce beautiful wines in months rather than years.

Sometimes an inexpensive and even speedier method, charmat, is employed by which the wine is fermented in large tanks then bottled under extreme pressure, forcing the development of carbon dioxide.

In some cases, wineries are pumping carbon dioxide into bottles.

Important terms to know:

Cuvee: a specific blend or batch of wine

Blanc de Blanc, Blanc de Noir, and Rose: sparkling wine made from white grapes, sparkling wine made from red grapes (the juice is white), and pink or salmon colored wine made from red grapes which soak in the skins (where the color and tannin resides).

Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec, and Sweet: measured in specific grams of sugar, these names refer, in ascending order, to sweetness of sparkling wines

Vintage and NV: Vintage is the year of the grape harvest. A sparkling wine with a year on it usually indicates a particularly good year in the vineyard. Non-vintage bottles (which most sparkling wines are labeled) are a blend of several vintages of still wines which are combined to create a consistent “house” taste.


More terrific (and inexpensive) sparkling choices:

Bisson Prosecco dei Colli Trevigianni
Brut Dargent Blanc de Blanc
Borgo Magredo Prosecco
Charles de Fere Blanc de Blanc
Chateau Ste Michelle Blanc de Noir
Collalbrigo Brut Prosecco
Cristalino Cava
Gosset Brut
Lucien Albrecht
Montaudon Brut
Touraine Merieau 'Boules'
Sigura Viudas Estate Brut Cava
Simonnet-Febre Cremant de Bourgogne
Zardetto Prosecco

If you still need to see a familiar label but want to keep the price down, consider half bottles of Veuve Clicquot, Tattinger, Ruinart, Duval Leroy, or Moet.